What do we do when August ends?

Being born and raised in Romania, I have tried to get to know as much as I could of this piece of land; this area full of so many natural resources and charismatic people. In case you haven’t heard yet, August is the holiday month for most Romanians. From students’ holidays, parents’ holidays and even your grandparents’ and aunts’ trips to the hot spring resorts for their rheumatism treatments, everything is in August. But what happens when the summer’s gone?

Although August has ended, and even though school will start soon, jobs as well, and we have to go back to our routines and retake our daily responsibilities, that doesn’t mean that summer’s truly gone. On the contrary, September is the actual summer in some places. And, moreover, you only need a weekend to visit one of those places where you can charge yourself up with enough energy for the whole next week.

Which place am I talking about?

Somewhere, high in the sky, on top of a mountain! Yes, that’s right. September is the best time of the year to go tracking in the mountains. And, as almost a third of Romania’s territory is made up of the Carpathian Mountains, that means you have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to picking up a track to follow.

But to make it easier for you to understand, try to picture that sequence from The Gladiator movie, when Russell Crowe walks on that golden field, touching the tops of the grains as he slowly walks with a clear, mesmeric, blue sky above him! Add to that a cool, fresh breeze full of the scent of flower slowly grabbing you while the sun warms you up. Also, instead of seeing some stranded fast moving clouds you can actually see faces, animals or other symbols… You can experience that feeling on the Mioritic fields in Romania. But the most meaningful feeling that you get is when you are up there, on top of the peak, on top of everyone else, listening only to the sounds of nature. That is a divine feeling that makes you believe more in yourself and your own powers; it makes you think big and take the world in your own hands, it makes you eager to create your next story.